Project Apollo achieved its goal of sending men to the moon.
For most of the 20th century, the Russian subcontinent was united under one political body — the Soviet Union. The Soviet Union differed ideologically from the U.S. This created a great deal of tension, some of which resulted in scientific competition. One of the best examples of this scientific competition was the “space race” — when the two countries vied with one another to achieve scientific ‘firsts’ in the realm of space exploration
. On April 12, 1961, the Russian, Yuri Gagarin, became the first human being in space. Piqued at this and the disaster of the Bay of Pigs, the U.S. President Kennedy wanted something dramatic to improve his popularity. This spurred into action the best and brightest of America’s space scientists and engineers. Thus was born Project Apollo.
The landing
How was one to get to the Moon? Scientists considered three routes: The direct, the EOR and the LOR. The EOR, short for Earth Orbit Rendezvous, meant all the pieces of a Moon ship and an Earth vehicle would be placed into orbit through multiple launches. The pieces would be assembled after rendezvous and sent to the Moon. The LOR or Lunar Orbit Rendezvous was a combination of the other two. A large rocket would send a lunar space ship and a lunar craft into orbit. The two would circle the Earth a few times and then rocket to the moon. They would arrive and orbit the Moon. Then landing would be attempted. The two-stage Moon landing craft would separate from the spaceship and make a rocket powered landing. The astronauts would make surface exploration and then the lower portion of the craft would act as a launch platform for the upper ascent stage. After the lunar blast off the stage would rendezvous with the main ship. Docking and transfer of crew would follow. The ascent vehicle would be left behind and only the main spaceship would return to the earth. In the end a space capsule with the astronauts would re-enter the Earth’s atmosphere. The route chosen by Project Apollo was LOR.
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